Water by John Boyne

John Boyne (The Elements book 1); 176 pages; Published by Doubleday 02/11/23; Dimensions: 14.4 x 2.1 x 22.2 cm

I am a big fan of John Boyne and was super excited for the new novella, Water, by this incredible author. I planned to read this in one sitting and booked it in for New Years Eve going into New Years Day.

Wow! Two-and-a-half hours and I’m hungry for more! It is exciting to find the teaser advert at the end of the book for the second instalment Earth, which is due out in May 2024.

For me, this was the ideal book to kick off the New Year. This would make a perfect book for someone who has had a break from reading and wishes to ease themselves back.

The reasons I say this is purely on the length and layout with the text being very central to the page with lots of white space around set out like a poem with nice page breaks and end of chapters. At 161 pages this is a very quick read and is, as mentioned above, a novella, this is fast paced and unputdownable.

Although short don’t be discouraged. John Boyne has a wonderful way of packing a lot in and enough descriptions to allow the reader to picture and imagine this story playing out. John Boyne consistently delivers so much.

I don’t like spoilers but thought I would mention the themes covered in Water - Religion, abuse, politicians, insular communities and complicity.

The cover is smooth and feels that it wouldn’t mark with fingerprints. The dustcover holds to the book with aplomb and doesn’t slip about when the book is in your hands and I didn’t feel the need to remove it to read.